Anti-Hunting Protesters Disrupt Denver ISE Show

This happened in Denver at the Sportsman show. I can see this happening. I am from back East and during hunting season it was nothing to see a deer strung up in someones yard. It was a thing of pride. People congratulated others on their harvest. Now I am in CO and have taken hunters safety. One of the talking points during the class was to cover your deer and don't let anyone see because you could offend or upset someone. My co-worker (from NW) had an incident while processing after he got his elk. He never considered how his cul de sac would react and they did. Welcome to the big city!

I’d just wrapped up my “Western Whitetail 101” seminar at the 2016 Denver International Sportsmen’s Expo. I was busy answering questions from a small group of whitetail addicts who’d stuck around after my presentation. My friend and hard-core outdoorsman Chris Roe was getting ready for the elk seminar he was about to give, so my fellow whitetail enthusiasts and I moved behind the stage to let Chris set up. Chris always draws a crowd. His tactics are solid, his research is sound and he has a great way of drawing people in.

That was when I heard a low grumble. When I glanced toward the stage, I saw a man was arguing with Chris. The man was clearly angry. Then I heard Chris say, “I’m sorry you feel that way, but this is about conservation.” I knew at that moment something was about to go awry.

Excusing myself from my small group, I rejoined Chris on the stage. If you believe in something, you stand for it, right? In that moment the anti-hunters swarmed out of the crowd, pulling out images of animals inked with slogans like “We Want To Live” and “We Want Freedom.”

The group came down the aisles and formed a line in front of the stage. Chris and I glanced at one another and just shook our heads as the chanting got louder and louder. I was impressed with how the outdoorsmen in the crowd responded. Most stood, but very few engaged the group. Many pulled out their phones and started videoing. A few, after several minutes, asked the protesters to leave. They did not.

In the end, it took action by members of the ISE Team to guide the group off to the side. There, the protesters formed a second line along the outside aisle and continued their chant.

In the end, Chris lost about 15 minutes of his seminar time and the crowd of outdoorsmen were on edge. I was furious. I had brought my wife and three kids to watch me speak, and it’s difficult to explain to children the level of hatred one person can have for a complete stranger. My eight-year-old daughter looked at a woman holding a sign that read “I Love Hunting Accidents,” then peered up at me through worried eyes and asked, “Daddy, does that lady want you to die?”

Of course, we all know that anti-hunting groups are out there. We know they’re well funded. We know they are, at least to some extent, well organized. This particular group had a couple of gentlemen snapping pictures and several running video. They paid money to enter the show with the single purpose of protesting a seminar or two.

But knowing they’re out there and facing them in person are two very different things. And while I’m sure those protesters hoped to change some minds, it seems more likely that their main purpose was simply to make a lot of noise.

I was also struck by how uneducated the protesters were when it came to hunting and conservation – it would have been funny if it weren’t so serious. I mean, many of the protesters carried leather purses or wore leather boots. And then there were the signs. One that read “We Want To Live” pictured a pair of spawning sockeye salmon. Those “red” salmon were making their annual spawning run and had only a few days left to live. Talk about irony!

Facing those protesters made me more committed than ever to do everything in my power to protect our sports and our way of life. We all need to do our part to stand up against the anti-hunting crowd and make our voices heard. Joining groups like the Pope & Young Club, the Boone and Crockett Club, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Mule Deer Foundation – among others – can ensure that we sportsmen are as well funded and well organized as those who oppose us.

^^^ that above makes me furious because the little girl understood, she questioned. Yes, those people do want her Daddy dead all because he chooses to harvest deer to help keep the herd healthy and to feed his family. What kind of people would hold signs like that?

Yeah, I saw that post some time ago. Just like the lib-tard that reworked the pro-gun safety message so that the woman talking had her head splashed all over the screen when a gun comes out of the side and "shoots" her in the head and then said anyone who owns a guns should die. These people see no problem with killing others who disagree with them but of course are "non-violent". Remember Rosie O'Cow that said that anyone with a gun should be thrown in prison, then had HER kid taken to school with an armed guard? Or Teddy "Fat Boy" Kennedy who had his body guard walk into Congress with two illegal machineguns and got the guy off? Well of course Teddy was a felon and couldn't own guns...

Tell your buddy to bring his elk over and we'll butcher it in my front yard and he can pick up some pointers about dealing with lib-tards that he can use at home! I try to be nice to my neighbors, but since they run in terror when I wave at them, and have since the day I moved in here ("Hi neighbor! I just moved in to the house here and..." "EEEKKK! A White, Christian, gun owning, heterosexual Man! The horror! The horror! Lock the doors!"), I got no problem dealing with them as they seem they want to be dealed (for the language Nazis, yes I know it is "dealt") with.

The hypocrisy is amazing. The only problem I have is how hunters now have to almost hide and skulk around because someone could be offended. It makes no sense. I know you cannot reason with some people but I do not like the thought of animals starving so hunting is good as long as it is controlled and not overdone.

You mentioned you had an issue with your neighbors. Sounds like it hasn't gotten better.

Hey they have to protest somewhere. Most state have made it illegal for them to do so during the hunting season, in the woods where the hunters are. That and Boone and Crocket have new Trophy specs for Protesters harvested by fair hunt in the woods. Numerous Categories abound. Fattest, Ugliest, Bald Women ala Sinead O'Conner, Biggest Mouth, etc etc

* Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply.** Resistance to Tyrants, is obedience to God. * Thomas Jefferson*Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property... Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them.* Thomas Paine

It is getting bad enough where new legislation to protect hunters from harassment is needed.

It is a special kind of stupid for the tree hugging clowns going out in the woods armed with noise makers and cameras going up against a lawful hunter armed with a 30-06.
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Hunters in Michigan have the right to enjoy their sport free from unreasonable and deliberate interference from those opposed to hunting as a legitimate use of public land and other natural resources.

Michigan law prohibits individuals from obstructing or interfering with the lawful taking of animals. The Department of Natural Resources supports hunting as a legitimate form of recreation and as a useful tool in the management of the wildlife resource. Michigan conservation officers are committed to protecting hunters from the intentional disruption of the hunting experience.

Individuals, whose hunting is being obstructed, should promptly report the violation to the DNR toll free complaint line at 1-800-292-7800, a local conservation officer, or the nearest DNR office facility.

Hunter harassment is a misdemeanor offense. Law enforcement officers may issue a citation for violations which take place in their presence, or may arrest with a warrant obtained on information provided by the affected hunter. Acting in cooperation with each other, the hunter and the conservation officer can be an effective team in ensuring the full protection of Michigan's hunters.

In order for an enforcement effort to be effective, the hunter should be prepared, pay attention to details, contact a law enforcement officer and most important, be willing to take the issue to court and provide credible testimony in any court proceedings.

Hunters should note the following points; who, what, where, when, and how when reporting any physical or other deliberate hunter anti-hunter confrontation. The hunter should not under any circumstances become involved in a physical confrontation with any individual. Hunters being harassed should inform the harasser of their feelings and request the harassment to stop.

The burden of proof in any criminal prosecution is on the accuser. To successfully prosecute any person for harassment of another, it must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the person intentionally or knowingly committed the violation.DNR - Hunter Harassment Overview
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As more than 600,000 hunters prepare for Wisconsin’s firearms deer-hunting opener Nov. 21, state lawmakers in Madison are pressing ahead with a plan that could insulate hunters from surveillance by animal-rights activists.

The proposal, which would expand the state’s definition of illegal hunter harassment, is a response to tactics employed this fall by a convicted eco-terrorist who says he’s trying to protect bear-hunting dogs from wolf attacks.

Backers of the proposed legislation, which appears to have strong support among lawmakers, argue that the changes are necessary to protect law-abiding hunters from intimidation and harassment by anti-hunting groups intent on scuttling hunters’ efforts. Opponents say the effort would squelch the public’s ability to monitor hunting on public lands for illegal, unethical and inhumane activities.

The topic might come up at deer camps as hunters begin the state’s nine-day gun season Nov. 21, although they appear unlikely to be affected this fall. The leader of the group at the center of the controversy, Wolf Patrol, says he’s withdrawn previous plans to be out in force during the deer season; the earliest the proposed law could become effective is next year.

But the issue is well-known to many of the state’s roughly 100,000 bear hunters.

HUNTERS FILMED

Earlier this year, animal-rights activist Rod Coronado and his group, Wolf Patrol (WolfPatrol.org), began videotaping hunters preparing for bear-hunting season by setting out bait and training hounds to pursue bears — practices legal in Wisconsin — and putting some of the footage on the Internet.

The principal supporter of the proposed legislation is state Rep. Adam Jarchow, R-Balsam Lake, whose district stretches along the Minnesota-Wisconsin border from Grantsburg to the Twin Cities metro area.

Jarchow, a deer hunter, said bear hunters began contacting him immediately with concerns.

"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."
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"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

'em. The same knucklehead who stalks and harasses a legal hunter, is banking on your restraint to keep him safe. (The same restraint he says you don't have ) these bambie-thumper have been trespassing, breaking and entering, running game with drones, beating drums on property lines, opening cages, stealing harvested game animals off trailers and out of truck beds, for many years. If I ever catch one on my property, he had better hope the game warden is close by and fast to respond. If I am forced to restrain him, he might strangle in the ropes, with all that squirming. Good thing I have the local game wardens on speed dial.

“Man’s mind is his basic tool of survival. Life is given to him, survival is not. His body is given to him, its sustenance is not. His mind is given to him, its content is not. To remain alive, he must act, and before he can act he must know the nature and purpose of his action. He cannot obtain his food without a knowledge of food and of the way to obtain it. He cannot dig a ditch-or build a cyclotron-without a knowledge of his aim and of the means to achieve it. To remain alive, he must think." John Galt (Ayn Rand)

Patents are not evil, profit is not a dirty word, providing for your family's future is not a sin, and what is mine is not your's just because you want it. Kellory.I have received NO secret government orders.(Watch for this notice to be removed)

Well I don't have to worry about that here at least, because our neighborhood is full of hunters, including both our next door neighbors. My mother has a thing against eating animals she's seen (alive), but that's just her personal preference, it's not absolute and in odd circumstances she has done so, and she doesn't care what other people do.

"Never get so lost in the quest to seek out evil that you become unable to seek out what is good."--Me
"You know what the definition of a hero is? Someone who gets other people killed."--Zoe, Serenity
"Only fools and profiteers ASK for war."--Xena
"So no more running. I aim to misbehave."--Captain Mal, SerenityMy Amazon Author Page

Very few of these Yahoos have the Stones to come to Alaska, and spout their agenda, outside the three Big Towns... And if the ever head out in the Bush, they usually do not make it back out... Coastal Brown Bears, just love, tender FlatLanders, covered in PepperSpray.... I understand that they taste like Black Bears...

Bruce in alaska (BTPost) An Atheist will never be able to say, "I TOLD YOU SO"!! ....

@Motomom34 's post above has got me to considering moving to that neck of the west, just to be unruly.. I would have absolutely no problem with hanging those tasty critters outside my home and carve steaks off of them in full daylight in front of all the sensitive types.. I would see as telling them "watch it! You may be next!"...

We do not have that sort of thing happening up here.. The usual greeting is "Have you got your meat in the freezer yet"??? This is truly a hunting culture around here..

How would your ancestors look upon your life and deed's??
Pro Libertate

A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it... Proverbs 22:3

The part that makes me insane is that they truly wish harm or death on the hunters. What kind of people do that? I may not agree with these people but I do not wish harm to others. That is truly evil to want a fellow human to be slaughtered because they choose to hunt.

In my area if there were any anti-hunters they best stay hidden. The hunters far out number the anti's and for many hunting is a way of life and providing for the family. And it doesn't hurt that many of the hunters are backwoods rednecks who wouldn't be afraid to not only tell an anti what they thought but would show them as well.

And then there's this oldie but a goodie

Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.